It's Finally Finished

I hope everyone had a restful, yet fantastic Christmas.  I know my family had a very enjoyable time spending time together and celebrating.  We had a dusting of snow Christmas Eve which helped to create a very festive atmosphere.

 

 

 

Time was found this past week to choose and attach the binding.

 

 

Coneflower- "A right of passage?"

 

Looking at the wallhanging with a critical eye: the stems on the flowers blend in with the background too much - a lighter or brighter material probably would have been better. Also, I wish I had used a thread or threads for the background that had been more of a contrast to see the stiching better. Especially, since I spend so much stitching fern plants and other leaves to make it look more like a garden in the background. Lastly, I need to practice making swirls and curves to get a cleaner stitch.

 

More pictures from Nome, Alaska.  Those are tall green shrubs, not trees.  The ground is too frozen for trees to grow roots.

 

 

Using Thread to Hightlight Features

Today, I am looking forward to going to Eastern Market on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.  It has the look and feel of open air markets you would find in Europe.  I love it at Christmas time with the hussle and bussle of people searching for that perfect gift; people buying trees then carrying them home; and musicians playing their instruments.  There is nothing better than the overall good cheer you feel in the atmosphere this time of the year even though recent national events have sprinkled it with some sadness.  If you haven't done so in the years past, it is fun with children to track Santa on NOAA all day December, 24th. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

This is the first quilt, I really put alot of thought into the quilting of the overall project.  I really hoped the stitching would beome apart of the overall design and compostion.  Excited to step way beyond my box, I decided to quilt the seeds first. 

 

Brown embroidery thread was used for continuity, because I did a different free motion stitch on seed.  Next, I did the petals.  A light pink thread was used at the end of the petals and a darker thread was used closer to the seeds.

 

On the upper part of the background, I did a fern looking stitch to make it look like more plants in the background. 

 

  

I need more practice at sewing curves, my stitching is not very good.  That too will come with practice.
 

On the botton, I did loops and leaves.

 

 

 Looking at the cold Bering Sea in the summer.  This time of the year it is frozen over with thick ice.  My brother-in-law wrote on Facebook that winter has arrived, temperatures are around -27 degrees......too cold for my blood.

The Butterfly Emerges

Christmas is quickly approaching, and I'm ready.  Presents are bought, wrapped and under the tree waiting for the big night.  In our family we open our gifts on Christmas Eve.  This tradition goes back to when my grandfather's family owned a farm.  The farm chores still had to be performed on Christmas day, so they celebrated on Christmas Eve.

 

 

Original photo

 

Instead of putting the butterfly on the flower on the right as in the original picture, I put it on the flower on the left.  In addition, I made the wings spotted with yellow and purple.  I think the butterfly has become the focal point of my picture. 

To get an idea of how the composition looks, I converted the picture to black and white.  The stems blend into the background, but instead of switching the material, I will try to give them more contrast with embroidery thread.   I think there is too much background to the right of the flower, it looks off balanced.

 

 Right now, in this stage of my learnig curve for quilting, I like putting the thin strip of material around my picture before adding the border.  I like the "matted" look. 

 

I am glad I trimmed off some of the background that was on the right hand side.  to me, the overall compositon looks better balanced.

 It is really to be sandwiched together and  ready to be quilted.

 An old dredger left over from the gold mining days in Nome, Alaska.

What a Mess!

First, I tried piecing the flower together according to my traced pattern.  What a mess!

I decided to take off the pedals, threw several in the trash, recut a select few, and repositioned them using the photo only as a reference.  Risk number 2, not relying totally on my pattern.

I considered changing the smallest flower purple to help give the look that it was further back in the picture.

I considered a different shade of purple, but it was as light as the pink.  In the end, I decided to leave it pink.

I like the look I have achieved so far.

A view of a mountain north of Nome.  I took the shoot onmy stomach looking across a river bed.

Coneflowers - A rite of passage?

 

 

What is it about the coneflower and quilters?  Is it a rite of passage in quilting?  Several books I have read, blogs and websites visited, usually showcase one quilt with coneflowers.  Now, I plan to do my version of a cone flower. 

 

 

 This is a picture of a coneflower I took this summer during the intense heat.  

 

 

 As usual, I converted the photo to black and white.  Then I put tracing paper over it and traced the shapes.

 

 

Here is the traced pattern of the flowers.

 

  The background in the photo was comprised of several shades of green and I couldn't decide on a single solid color.  So, I decided to piece together the background for my quilt.  While doing the piecing, I kept putting the traced flowers over the background trying to imagine the flower on it.  This first step in making my quilt  definitely took me out of my comfort zone.  The only way to grow and learn is to take risks.  This is risk number 1 for this quilt. 

 

 

Alaska in early spring.......burrr, looks too cold to me!  No, I haven't been to Alaska in the deep cold.  My sister sent me this picture of her daughter.

 

 

Alaska in the summer.....more, my type of weather.

 

Her Townhouse is Finished

This past week, has been very busy from Thanksgiving dinner with friends, to decorating the house for Christmas and wrapping Christmas gifts.  I try to get as much done as possible during my five day weekend.  It helps to make the coming weeks before Christmas a little less hectic and more enjoyable.

 

Choosing a binding proved to be somewhat of a challenge.

 I just wasn't sure what to do.  As usual, it was tacked to my design board and pondered it the next day while trying to teach.

As you can see, I settled on the blue border to complete the wall hanging.  This wall hanging represents my daughter's first home as well as the first car she bought on her own.

 It also represents a shift in my work, I gave much thought and planned the free-motion stitching I used in the composition. 

 I used a different stitch for each section, not just for variety, but to bring interest and continuity to the piece.

For the sky, I decided to pick up the pattern in the material.

Looking at my work with a critical eye, I should have placed some shading on the sidewalk.  The plants and trees would have casted a shadow because the sunlight was coming from the left as you can see in the porch. I am beginning to see a shift in my quilting from the mundane to one with a little more interest.

What is there about a picture of a grandmother and her granddaughter walking away from you in the distance?  This looks like a subject for a futre wallhanging.

 

Valuable Lesson Learned and Choosing a Border

 

 

 

The weather last Sunday was georgeous.  Wearing short sleeves, we put up the Christmas lights up outside while soaking up the sunshine.  As I say every year, I can't believe the holiday season is upon us again.  I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving has a great day with family and friends....and don't eat too much turkey.

 

 

I made the mistake of trimming the bushes over my wallhanging and didn't realize fuzz with wonderunder residue was dropping all over my quilt.  When I did a final pressing to make sure that all the pieces were secure before adding the border.........I had a mess on my hands.  Several of the white areas where spectaled and dirty looking.  I tried flicking it off with my fingernail, no luck.  Valuable time was used to carefully remove the white frame areas around the windows.  Since I had just given them a good pressing, it was a little trying to peel them off without taking the darker material for the windows as well.  Finally,  I traced and replace them.  Also, I had to clean the goop off my iron.......a valuable lesson well learned.

 

 

I decided to put a thin white border around the picture before I put the wider border around it.

 

 

Mmmm...I wasn't sure about the brown.

 

 

The blue didn't excite me.

 



 

This was a maybe. 

 

 

After considering several choices, I settled on the above.

 

My youngest sister leaves in Nome, Alaska with her family.  This picture was taken on the edge of town looking north.  I think I would miss the trees living in Nome.

 

 

Deciding on Colors for the Grass and the Bushes

 

Last week, I was in Florida for a long weekend visiting my Uncle.  It was nice to get away from the gray skies and cool temperatures.  The sun felt warm on my skin and it was a welcoming sight.  The temperatures were perfect; the low 80's everyday we we there.  Coming home on Tuesday to temperatures in the low 40's was a cruel reality check.

This week, I had a difficult time choosing material for the grass.  I would cut out the different shades of green, iron it on, and tack the design on the wallhanging.  There it stayed for a short period while I stared and pondered. 

 

Option 1 seemed to conflict with the blue in the car.  My eyes stopped at the grass and the car.  They did not travel around the composition.

 

 

Option 2 seems to help your eye to travel around the composition.  My eye travels from the upper right room to the garage, the car, the grass, the neighbors door, the window, and up to the roof.

 

 

Option 3 was just all wrong.  I tried adding some of the shrubs to the picture, but it just didn't work for me.

  

 

In my mind, Option 2 was the winner hands down.  The shrubs, plants, and grass, work well together and compliment the townhouse. The plants and the tree took me a couple of nights to complete. I chose lighter material for the plants closest to the front and darker plants nearest to the house to give that feeling of depth. I will highlight the plants when I do the quilting. My next challenge.... choose a border for my wallhanging.  Choosing a border is one of my least favorite tasks, because I find it difficult to select just the right material to compliment all edges of the picture.

 

I have been to Alaska three times to visit my sister.  Not once, did I see Denali, "The Great One",  from the ground.  However, I did get to see it above the clouds from the plane.

 

Making it Look Demensional

 

We were lucky, we made it through Sandy, with just a 20 hour power lost.  I was down at my Mom's house bailing water out of her sump pump.  With no electricity to run the sump pump, we had to use the next best thing; a pan and a bucket.  Here in Maryland the water table where we live is high and when we get large amounts of rain the water has no where to go but up into the lowest part of the house, the basement.  Every hour until 3:00 AM, the rain finally subsided, we were in the basement bailing water.  My husband was back home enjoying the hum of our new generator and the electricity it provided for the house.

 

 

 

I did find some time to sit by the lantern and work on a dresden plate block for a baby blanket I am making. 

 

 

 

Using the black and white photograph, I chose the different shades of white, off white, brown  and gray.  I elected not to pick  busy printed material for the construction of her house.  I wanted to keep the lines and solid areas simple.

 

 

 

Also, this week, I found time to piece together her car.  I wish I had taken a picture of the inside of her car before I had placed the black shear material over windows.  Inside the car, I pieced together the front mirror, the seats, headrest and inside rear light.  Why, do you ask?  I wanted the practice of making it look dimensional.  Under the back of the car, I put a shadow.

 

Here is a close-up of the car.  So far, I like the look Iam achieving.  This week I plan to work on the grass and plants around her house.

 

 

The sunsets over Lake Michigan are beautiful.   People line up on the shores to snap pictures.